We've all heard of garlic bread, but pesto bread? This recipe takes savoury bread to a whole other level. Homemade bread filled with thick bands of homemade pesto is paired with a grated parmesan and garlic powder topping to pull all the flavours together. 

INGREDIENTS:

Dough:

• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened

Pesto:

• ½ cup toasted pine nuts
• ¾ cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 5 cups fresh basil
• ⅓-⅔ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Topping:

• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

METHOD:

1. Pulse pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and basil in a food processor until combined, 1 minute.
2. With the food processor on, slowly add olive oil until the pesto becomes smooth, about 1 minute. 

1. Mix water and milk and heat to lukewarm. Stir in the yeast and let sit while you sift the dry ingredients. 
2. Sift together the flour, sugar and salt.  
3. Add the milk mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer and turn to medium-high speed with the dough hook. Add the butter and the dry ingredients ½ cup at a time and mix until the dough comes together. Lower speed to medium and knead for 3-5 minutes.
4. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes. 
5. Roll dough out onto a lightly greased countertop to a 25 x 50cm rectangle. 
6. Spread ¾ cup pesto onto the dough, leaving about 1cm boarder. Roll the dough into a 25cm log and pinch the seam closed. Scrunch the log down a bit to fit in your loaf pan and place the dough seam-side down.  
7. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise again for 30 minutes.
8. Mix topping ingredients together and preheat oven to 180°C. 
9. Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle the topping on the loaf. Bake for 40-45 minutes. 
10. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Allow the loaf to cool before slicing.